Saturday, the Cuban parliament approved a new foreign investment law (FDI) aimed at attracting badly needed capital through tax cuts, a measure officials said was vital for the development of the island Continue reading →

In 1990, I asked Adolfo Suárez for help. At the time, I had made a political calculation that the former prime minister could be useful to Cuba's democratization and was a generous person. In Spain, Continue reading →

CUBA STANDARD — Executives of 31 Brazilian companies were in Cuba last week to explore options of opening shop at the Mariel Special Development Zone.
The delegation, put together by the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) and supported by the Federação das Indústrias de São Paulo (Fiesp), follows up on the urging of the Brazilian [...] Continue reading →

The truth is that Cuba continues to be more surrealist than André Breton himself. You would think that only in the theater could an absent honoree be honored; but no, a recent tribute organized by the Archdiocese of Havana for … Continue reading →Continue reading →

31 de marzo de 2014, 16:23 Havana, Mar 31 (Prensa Latina) The Piña Colada Festival, the first and greatest event of the fusion musical genre in Cuba, is preparing its eleventh edition faithful to its Continue reading →

Join LOS BOLEROS for a night of hot havana heat at the Pena Pachamama! In a time of the modern salsa band Los Boleros stays true to the traditional Cuban music styles of an era when music was golden. Continue reading →

31 de marzo de 2014, 16:06 Havana, Mar 31 (Prensa Latina) Cubans liking for beer, mainly in the hottest months of the year, and the development of tourism are on a par in a new attraction: a bar with Continue reading →

The commercialization in six Cuban provinces of some 100 000 plumbing hoses produced in the north-eastern city of Holguin turns into a significant contribution to country's water saving program. The plumbing Continue reading →

Cuba Approves New Foreign Investment Law: The Cuban government on Saturday unanimously approved a law that provides new incentives for foreign investment in the island. The law will reduce taxes on profits Continue reading →

We must ask, we must consider in the light of Russia's behaviour, would the Americans be better off destroying the kind of Cuba that we currently have says Peter Binose. Peter Binose KINGSTOWN, Continue reading →

31 de marzo de 2014, 14:58 Moscow, Mar 31 (Prensa Latina) Minister of Education and Science in Russia Dmitri Livanov, reiterated today the interest of Moscow of having Cubans students in his country Continue reading →

Photo by Tammy Gordon The Cuban sandwich is typically pressed on a plancha or a flat grill top, making each side buttery crisp. From classic comfort foods to regional standouts and desserts, we'll be Continue reading →

New Face of Cuba's Official Online Newspaper March 31, 2014 Isbel Díaz Torres

HAVANA TIMES — On March 13, a new version of Cuba's Granma newspaper website went online. The most attractive feature of the new, more dynamic page design is the possibility of posting comments on published articles.

Till now, the official newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party had a website with a static and visually awful platform, far behind other Cuban government pages, such as Cubadebate, Cubasi and newspaper sites such as Trabajadores and Juventud Rebelde.

The digital version of the weekly Granma Internacional, which came online in August of 1996, was the first Cuban Internet press site. The online edition of the newspaper (which has now been fused with Granma International) became available as a digital publication in July of 1997.

According to Granma, the new staff of designers sought to make the site "modern, respond to the demands of new information and communication technologies and any platform used to convey news, in order to inform the public quickly and truthfully, sharing news content in such a way that users aren't mere passive receivers of information, but also the main sources of such content."

The current Internet platform of Cuba's official newspaper relies on a "dynamic framework" that employs a modern "content manager". This allows for updating from different places, regardless of circumstances. Tablet and smartphone versions of the site have also been released.

The new website also affords a range of editorial solutions that "allows decision-makers to act, not only expediently, but also intelligently. This holds for the editing of a given text and for the way it is presented to the user, with emphasis on the classification of the materials to be uploaded."

In addition to improved design, better content organization, responsive design, performance, increased cache and the availability of 2.0 applications, a portion of the published news can be read in English, French, German, Italian and Portuguese.

The Face and the Body Aren't Always the Same

Granma's new young staff introduced itself to readers through an article titled "Granma.cu, nuestra nueva cara en la red" ("Granma.cu: Our New Face on the Internet").

On this occasion, Granma journalists didn't quote Marx, Lenin or Fidel Castro. Rather, in keeping with the new times, they turned to the East and invoked Mahatma Gandhi, in a phrase that reads: "We would do many things if we believed that fewer things were impossible."

As though that weren't enough, the communist staff of Granma shared a phrase written by Confucius in 551 AD: "whoever aspires to constant happiness and wisdom must adjust to frequent changes."

Fortunately, the information acknowledges the fact that "these new tools facilitate the management of the site but do not of themselves write, investigate or express opinions. These, it said, require the professionalism and commitment of a higher form of journalism," in keeping with the appeals made by President Raul Castro.

The impact Cuba's recently appointed First Vice-President Miguel Diaz-Canel working towards a change in the methods of the national press, is fairly obvious.

That said, the newspaper continues to be prepared at Poligrafico Granma ("Granma Publishing House"), where all the country's national newspapers, including those read in Havana, Mayabeque and Artemisa, are published.

Nor has Granma changed its fundamental objective, which isn't to inform the public (as one would expect of a newspaper), but to "promote, through its articles and comments, the work of the revolution and its principles, the achievements reached by our people and the integrity and cohesion of our people around the Party and Fidel," as the page "About Us" announces.

Another indication that the "body" hasn't changed is that the initiative to modernize Granma will be extended to Juventud Rebelde, through the same team of designers, commented Diaz-Canel in a recent interview.

I must acknowledge that slightly fresher articles written by young people can now be found in the newspaper's Opinions column. These, however, aren't published in the privileged spaces, which are still reserved for the familiar praise for the current state of things on the island.

The Communist Party Now Accepts Comments

After two weeks online, it is clear that the editors of Granma are willing to publish comments expressing criteria opposed to those of the article and even opinions that are fairly critical of the government's general policies.

An article that announced the appointment a new chair of the National Association of Small Farmers, for instance, showed several comments criticizing the PCC's meddling in an autonomous farmers' organization and the Party's tendency to appoint leaders who had no direct experience in the field.

Flattering comments continue to be the immense majority for the time being, though a group of cybernauts seems to have discovered this new possibility and timidly begin to post their criticisms.

Generally speaking, Internet users supportive of Granma have acknowledged that the change was necessary and appear to be pleased by the opportunity to share their comments.

In addition, Granma designers have implemented a number of changes suggested by readers and replied to a number of comments, giving signs of a willingness to converse with the public (at least on matters that aren't explicitly political).

Cuba's extremely limited Internet access could be the reason these new spaces have been opened, in one of the few sites that didn't allow for public participation until recently.

It is worth pointing out that several users who use Cuba's national health network connection (Infomed) left comments expressing their dissatisfaction with the slowness of the connection and the amount of time it took to open the different news pages.

That dissenting opinions are still treated with a measure of apprehension is revealed by the fact that, once articles are published on the main page, only a selection of the comments made are left – the majority are positive and a small number of them (usually the worst arguments) are negative.

Regardless, we should pay attention to these shy steps and what they could mean for the future: a move towards an acceptable model of free press for the island, or a mere disguise used to conceal the censorship mechanism we know so well.

HAVANA TMES — Michael A. Lebowitz, Canadian economist and professor at the Simon Frazer University in Vancouver, answered our questions regarding: Socialism and the Party, the New State from the bottom up, cooperatives and self-management, Cuba and its economy.

HT: What does the Cuban economy need as a factor of the first order to succeed?

Michael A. Lebowitz: I don't think it is appropriate for me, as an outsider, to make specific proposals for the Cuban economy. However, on the basis of my studies of countries which attempted to build socialism in the 20th century and several years as an adviser in Venezuela, I think I can make some general comments.

If you wish to build a new society, it is essential to find ways to unleash the creative collective energy of the people. It is important to create conditions in which people through their practice can transform circumstances and themselves.

In the Soviet Union and countries which followed that model, this was sorely lacking. The tendency was to think that all solutions and all movements toward socialism were to be determined at the top and transmitted to the bottom. The result was that people did not develop their capacities, that they were alienated in the workplace and communities and did not and could not defend the gains that were made in those societies. And we know the result: capitalism triumphed. In short, even though some people may think it is more efficient to make the decisions at the top, it should be understood that this is a disinvestment in people.

I spent a number of years living and advising in Venezuela during the period when Chavez was president. It was evident there in the communal councils and workers councils that when people have the ability to make the decisions that affect them, they develop strength and dignity. One of the wonderful characteristics of Chavez was that he had confidence in the ability of people to develop and to build socialism and he never hesitated to encourage them. If you want to solve the problem of poverty, he said, you have to give power to the people. Chavez was consistent on this point: he stressed the importance of producing new human beings, and he often cited Che Guevara on the necessity to build new socialist human beings.

HT: Is an economy possible completely based on self-management and the cooperatives?

ML: I think self-management of state-owned enterprises and cooperatives are an important way of unleashing the creative energy of people. They build solidarity within those workplaces and demonstrate essential aspects of a society based on cooperation rather than competition. However, I don't believe that you can build a just economy limited to these islands of cooperation. Their inherent tendency is the self-interest of the members of these collectives.

For example, in Yugoslavia the orientation of self-managed enterprises was to maximize income per worker. They functioned within the market and, rather than building solidarity within the society, the tendency was to generate inequality in the society. When every group of workers is looking out only for itself, who is there to look out for the interests of the working class as a whole?

It is a myth (a dangerous myth advanced by those who are either ignorant or ill intentioned) to argue that, when everyone acts out of their own self-interest, the interests of all are advanced. That is the mythology of Adam Smith and neoliberal economics. In Yugoslavia: the stress upon self-interest and the market produced the destruction of solidarity within the society and ultimately the destruction of Yugoslavia itself.

I believe that it is essential that there be an organized voice which expresses the needs of people and thus acts as a corrective to the self-orientation of the members of the enterprises. In Venezuela, the stress has been to bring together the communes (composed of a number of communal councils) and the workplaces in those areas to explore the ways in which the workplaces can serve the needs of the local communities.

Obviously, it is not only the needs of local communities have to be taken into account. However, it is very important that the members of these workplaces understand their responsibility to society. Otherwise, you can get the perverse situation which existed in Yugoslavia where state taxation (for the purpose of equalizing development in the country) was attacked as exploitation by a Stalinist state.

HT: Do the cooperatives need the unique party and the state as institutional rectors of the nation?

ML: I definitely believe that you need the state. How else can you deal with the problem of inequality and problems of national importance like defense? However, I think it is important to begin to build a different kind of state – a new state.

In Venezuela, Chavez described the communal councils as the cells of a new socialist state. They were institutions characterized by protagonistic democracy, a democracy in practice, in which people develop through their own activity. And he saw these as the building blocks to move to communes and from there to the creation of a communal city and from there upward to the new national state – a state from below.

Obviously, that new state cannot possibly develop overnight and it necessarily coexists with the old state for a period of time. But the goal should be to build that new state consciously – precisely because it is a state which produces the people required for a socialist economy.

I don't think that such a new state emerges spontaneously. It requires conscious effort. It requires the battle of ideas. It requires leadership. In short, it requires a party which recognizes the necessity to create the conditions in which new socialist human beings produce themselves. And that means, I think, a party with a different focus – not a focus upon making decisions at the top and enforcing discipline within the party but one which creates the conditions internally for people to develop all their potential and initiative, one which contains within it different tendencies and which respects minorities, a party oriented toward building socialism which can listen and learn.

HT: Do you think cooperatives are the answer to the problems of Cuban agriculture?

ML: Certainly the problems of Cuban agriculture are very serious and much depends upon a solution to these. While these problems have unique characteristics (reflecting particular decisions that were made in the past), it is essential to understand that there are many common characteristics in other countries of the South.

In many places, people have abandoned the rural areas in part because of the inability to compete with the highly subsidized agriculture of the United States and other developed capitalist countries. It is not at all a level playing field – poor and developing countries are pressured not to subsidize rural production but nothing is done about the subsidies (direct and hidden) in the rich countries. The result is that many countries of the South lack food sovereignty despite their fertile land and end up importing substantial amounts of their foodstuffs.

This is the situation in Venezuela, where there was an enormous movement from the countryside to the cities in the period before Chavez's election; a particular factor there was an overvalued currency (due to oil exports) which meant that rural producers could not compete with imports.

The result was that Venezuela was importing 70% of its food and much of its countryside was empty. How was it possible to reverse that and to develop food sovereignty? In a paper I did for the Venezuelan Ministry of Economic Development in 2008, I stressed that if you want to encourage food production, you have to encourage food producers and, in particular, you have to encourage new entry into agricultural production especially of young people.

And, I argued that this goes far beyond simply increasing food prices for the producers (which does not necessarily mean increasing prices for consumers). It means developing an infrastructure, schools, cultural facilities and access to modern communications. In short, you have to create the conditions in which young people do not see themselves as turning their back on civilization to work in the countryside. This is obviously an investment – an investment for the future which goes far beyond a simple solution of raising prices for agricultural production and leaving things to the market to solve the problem.

If a society is prepared to make such an investment (which needs to be widely discussed so people understand its necessity), then the next question is what should be the nature of the relations of production in agriculture. From what I've said earlier, it is obvious that I think that forms of self-management (whether under state ownership or cooperative ownership) are essential. It should be obvious, too, that if society is making this investment, then the self-managed enterprises need to recognize their responsibility to society.

If Cuban society is not prepared or is unable to make such investments, I fear that the prospect is one of shortages, high food prices and continued high food imports (especially with the aging of the rural population).

NAMIBIA, March 31st, 2014. A large group of Cubans living in Namibia, alongside with island collaborators, former Namibian students in Cuba and officials of the Cuban diplomatic mission, came together Continue reading →

HAVANA TIMES — As a mechanism for ideological control, censorship is not unique to totalitarian regimes. In nearly every country around the world, there are political, religious and other demarcations that make so-called freedom of expression mere semblance. This is a truism. No one is so naïve as to believe they can freely express their opinions without some form of hostile consequences.

The fact censorship exists nearly everywhere should not, however, be used by governments to justify its practice as an unquestionable right, nor as a kind of consolation for those whose right to dissent is curtailed.

All countries will always suffer some form of censorship (tacitly or explicitly), but public opinion groups and individuals must be very much aware of the legitimate role they must play in their relationship with power.

Journalists and writers – provided they are true to their calling and assume the absolutely independent and responsible attitude devoid of opportunism and complicity with higher-ups their profession demands – are duty-bound to practice their trade honestly and decorously, even when this means an open and direct confrontation with the political establishment.

It is not a question of turning literature or journalistic work into propaganda, creating spaces, columns or opinion groups, much less affiliating oneself to parties or parading down the streets holding banners and yelling out slogans (as citizens, we are all free to do this, of course). It is a question, rather, of shedding one's fears ceasing to conceive of our intellectual subjugation and self-censorship as "common sense", as these phenomena only lead to ridiculous and nonsensical text and never to genuine literature or journalism.

While it is true that efforts to avoid censorship through the use of literary disguises of every sort has spawned literary masterpieces and brilliant authors whose real names we will never know, hidden as they remained behind a pseudonym or total anonymity, it is also true that no hand numbed by fear or guided by a foreign and despotic will ever managed to write anything worthwhile. One cannot write a journalistic or literary piece if one is forced to respect the limits imposed by others. Nothing of any significance can be achieved when one needs a permit in order to create.

Publishing a sterile work that has been emptied of potentially offensive content, besmirched by convenience and adulterated by the fear of punishment could be tolerated in mentally challenged people, but it is shameful and objectionable when practiced by individuals who have an effective influence on the public sphere.

Any system that fears individual opinion, the direct usage of the written word or questioning (misguided or not) only demonstrates that the ideological foundations that sustain it are as fragile as paper or as insubstantial as hot air.

By attacking those who dissent, governments merely reveal their colossal clumsiness. By revealing, through their hatred, their disproportionate and contradictory faith in the written word, they attest to the fact that their reality is made up of a huge pile of words, each propped up by the other, part of a discourse that is only apparently coherent.

Words are not the political or ideological property of anyone. Imposing limits on the activities of intellectuals and artists does great harm to a country's culture. Strategies aimed at silencing people and at controlling the opinions of individuals within the sphere of culture and others are the fundamental causes behind the stagnation and mediocrity that prevail in our society.

31 de marzo de 2014, 14:28 Camagüey, Cuba, Mar 31 (Prensa Latina) The director of the En Dedans Contemporary Ballet, Tania Vergara, stated today in this city that the company is open to the world and Continue reading →